Christ is the Giver of the Ten Commandments

Christ and His Righteousness - E.G. Waggoner

Christ the Lawgiver

'For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.  Isaiah 33:22.

We have now to consider Christ in another character, yet not another. It is one that naturally results from His position as Creator, for the One who creates must certainly have authority to guide and control.

We read in John 5:22, 23 the words of Christ, that “the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.” As Christ is the manifestation of the Father in creation, so is He the manifestation of the Father in giving and executing the law. A few texts of Scripture will suffice to prove this.

In Numbers 21:4-6 we have the partial record of an incident that took place while the children of Israel were in the wilderness. Let us read it. “And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” The people spoke against God and against Moses, saying, Why have ye brought us up into the wilderness? They found fault with their Leader. This is why they were destroyed by serpents. Now read the words of the apostle Paul concerning this same event:

“Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.” 1 Cor. 10:9.

What does this prove? That the Leader against whom they were murmuring was Christ.

This is further proved by the fact that when Moses cast in his lot with Israel, refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Heb. 11:26.

Read also 1 Cor. 10:4, where Paul says that the fathers “did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.” So, then, Christ was the Leader of Israel from Egypt.

The third chapter of Hebrews makes clear this same fact. Here we are told to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful in all His house, not as a servant, but as a Son over His own house. Verses 1-6. Then we are told that we are His house if we hold fast our confidence to the end. Wherefore we are exhorted by the Holy Ghost to hear His voice and not to harden our hearts, as the fathers did in the wilderness. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, Today if ye will hear His [Christ's] voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke; howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

But with whom was he [Christ] grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? Verses 14-17. Here again Christ is set forth as the Leader and Commander of Israel in their forty years' sojourn in the wilderness.

The same thing is shown in Josh. 5:13-15, where we are told that the man whom Joshua saw by Jericho, having a sword drawn in his hand, in response to Joshua's question, “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” said, “Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.” Indeed, no one will be found to dispute that Christ was the real Leader of Israel, although invisible.

Moses, the visible leader of Israel, “endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” It was Christ who commissioned Moses to go and deliver His people. Now read Ex. 20:1-3:

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” Who spoke these words? The One who brought them from Egypt. And who was the Leader of Israel from Egypt? It was Christ. Then who spoke the law from Mt. Sinai? It was Christ, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His Person, who is the manifestation of God to man. It was the Creator of all created things and the One to whom all judgment has been committed.

This point may be proved in another way. When the Lord comes, it will be with a shout (1 Thess. 4:16), which will pierce the tombs and arouse the dead (John 5:28, 29). “The Lord shall roar from on high and utter His voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations; he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.” Jer. 25:30, 3. Comparing this with Rev. 19:11-21, where Christ as the Leader of the armies of heaven, the Word of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords, goes forth to tread the wine- press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, destroying all the wicked, we find that it is Christ who roars from His habitation against all the inhabitants of the earth, when He has His controversy with the nations. Joel adds another point, when he says, “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake.” Joel 3:16.

From these texts, to which others might be added, we learn that in connection with the coming of the Lord to deliver His people, He speaks with a voice that shakes the earth and the heavens--“the earth shall reel to and from like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage” (Isa. 24:20), and “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise” (2 Peter 3:10). Now read Heb. 12:25,26:

See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven; whose voice then shook the earth; but now He hath promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”

The time when the Voice speaking on earth shook the earth was when the law was spoken from Sinai (Ex. 19:18-20; Heb. 12:18- 20), an event that for awfulness has never had a parallel and never will have until the Lord comes with all the angels of heaven to save His people. But note: The same voice that then shook the earth will, in the coming time, shake not only earth, but heaven also, and we have seen that it is the voice of Christ that will sound with such volume as to shake heaven and earth when He has His controversy with the nations. Therefore it is demonstrated that it was the voice of Christ that was heard from Sinai, proclaiming the ten commandments. This is no more than would naturally be concluded from what we have learned concerning Christ as Creator and the Maker of the Sabbath. Indeed, the fact that Christ is a part of the Godhead, possessing all the attributes of Divinity, being the equal of the Father in all respects, as Creator and Lawgiver, is the only force there is in the atonement. It is this alone which makes redemption a possibility. Christ died “that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18), but if He lacked one iota of being equal to God, He could not bring us to Him. Divinity means having the attributes of Deity. If Christ were not Divine, then we should have only a human sacrifice. It matters not, even if it be granted that Christ was the highest created intelligence in the universe; in that case He would be a subject, owing allegiance to the law, without ability to do any more than His own duty. He could have no righteousness to impart to others. There is an infinite distance between the highest angel ever created and God; therefore, the highest angel could not lift fallen man up and make him partaker of the Divine nature. Angels can minister; God only can redeem. Thanks be to God that we are saved “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and who is, therefore, able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.

This truth helps to a more perfect understanding of the reason why Christ is called the Word of God. He is the One through whom the Divine will and the Divine power are made known to men. He is, so to speak, the mouth-piece of Divinity, the manifestation of the Godhead. He declares or makes God known to man. It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell; and therefore the Father is not relegated to a secondary position, as some imagine, when Christ is exalted as Creator and Lawgiver, for the glory of the Father shines through the Son. Since God is known only through Christ, it is evident that the Father cannot be honored as He ought to be honored, by those who do not exalt Christ. As Christ Himself said, “He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him.” John 5:23. Is it asked how Christ could be the Mediator between God and man and also the Lawgiver? We have not to explain how it can be but only to accept the Scripture record that it is so. And the fact that it is so is that which gives strength to the doctrine of the atonement. The sinner's surety of full and free pardon lies in the fact that the Lawgiver Himself, the One against whom he has rebelled and whom he has defied, is the One who gave Himself for us. How is it possible for anyone to doubt the honesty of God's purpose or His perfect good-will to men, when He gave Himself for their redemption? for let it not be imagined that the Father and the Son were separated in this transaction. They were one in this, as in everything else. The counsel of peace was between them both (Zech. 6:12, 13), and even while here on earth the only-begotten Son was in the bosom of the Father.

What a wonderful manifestation of love! The Innocent suffered for the guilty; the Just for the unjust; the Creator for the creature; the Maker of the law for the transgressor against the law; the King for his rebellious subjects. Since God spared not His own Son but freely delivered Him up for us all--Since Christ voluntarily gave Himself for us--how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?

Infinite Love could find no greater manifestation of itself. Well may the Lord say, “What could have been done more to My vineyard that I have not done in it?”

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My thoughts-

All I'm going to say on this tonight is this… read this again, and again if needed.  There is TRUTH being spoken in these words. There is TRUTH that Satan does NOT want any of us to hear or believe!

Please Lord, please help us to know your TRUTH and LIVE your TRUTH! 

By the grace of God we will discuss this tomorrow, but for now… please...please reread the above.

In the LOVE OF CHRIST OUR SAVIOR!

We must bring ourselves to the table of the Lord before we can eat

Christ and His Righteousness   -  E.G. Waggoner

'Important Practical Lessons

It is not merely as a beautiful theory, a mere dogma, that we should consider Christ as God and Creator. Every doctrine of the Bible is for our practical benefit and should be studied for that purpose. Let us first see what relation this doctrine sustains to the central commandment of the law of God. In Genesis 2:1-3 we find these words closing the record of creation, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all His work which God created and made.” The Jewish translation renders the text more literally thus, “Thus were finished the heavens and the earth and all their host. And God had finished on the seventh day His work which He had made,” etc. This is the same that we find in the fourth commandment, Ex. 20:8- 11.

In this we find, what is most natural, that the same Being who created, rested. He who worked six days in creating the earth, rested on the seventh and blessed and sanctified it. But we have already learned that God the Father created the worlds by his son Jesus Christ and that Christ created everything that has an existence. Therefore the conclusion is inevitable that Christ rested on that first seventh day at the close of the six days of creation and that he blessed and sanctified it.

Thus the seventh day--the Sabbath--is most emphatically the Lord's day. When Jesus said to the carping Pharisees, “For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day” (Matt. 12:8), He declared His lordship of the identical day which they had so scrupulously observed in form, and He did this in words which show that He regarded it as His badge of authority, as demonstrating the fact that He was greater than the temple.

Thus the seventh day is the Divinely appointed memorial of creation. It is the most honored of all days, since its especial mission is to bring to mind the creative power of God, which is the one proof to man of His Divinity.

And so when Christ said that the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day, He claimed a high distinction--nothing less than being the Creator, of whose Divinity that day stands as a memorial.

What shall we say, then, to the suggestion often made, that Christ changed the day of the Sabbath from a day which commemorates completed creation to one which has no such significance?

Simply this, that for Christ to change or abolish the Sabbath would be to destroy that which calls to mind His Divinity.

If Christ had abolished the Sabbath, He would have undone the work of His own hands and thus have worked against Himself, and a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. But Christ “cannot deny Himself,” and therefore He did not change one jot of that which He Himself appointed and which, by testifying to His Divinity, shows Him to be worthy of honor above all the gods of the heathen. It would have been as impossible for Christ to change the Sabbath as it would have been to change the fact that He created all things in six days and rested on the seventh.

Again, the oft-repeated declarations that the Lord is Creator are intended as a source of strength. Notice how creation and redemption are connected in the first chapter of Colossians. To get the point fully before us, we will read verses 9-19:

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of every creature; for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell.

It is not an accident that the wonderful declaration concerning Christ as Creator is connected with the statement that in Him we have redemption. No. When the apostle makes known his desire that we should be “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power,” he lets us know what that glorious power is. When he tells us about being delivered from the power of darkness, he lets us know something of the power of the Deliverer. It is for our comfort that we are told that the head of the church is the Creator of all things. We are told that he upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3), in order that we may rest in the assurance that “The Hand which bears all nature up/Shall guard His children well.”

Note the connection of Isa. 40:26. The chapter presents the wonderful wisdom and power of Christ, in calling all the host of heaven by names and in keeping them all in their places, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, and then inquires, “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding.” On the contrary, “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” His power is, in fact, the ability to create everything from nothing; therefore, He can work wonders through those who have no strength. He can bring strength out of weakness. Surely, then, anything which serves to keep before the mind the creative power of Christ must tend to renew our spiritual strength and courage.

And this is just the design of the Sabbath. Read the ninety-second psalm, which is entitled a psalm of the Sabbath-day. The first four verses are these:

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High; to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

What has this to do with the Sabbath? Just this: The Sabbath is the memorial of creation. Says the Lord: “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Eze. 20:12. The Psalmist kept the Sabbath as God designed that it should be kept--in meditating upon creation and the wondrous power and goodness of God displayed therein. And then, thinking of that, he realized that the God who clothes the lilies with a glory surpassing that of Solomon cares far more for His intelligent creatures, and as he looked at the heavens, which show the power and glory of God, and realized that they were brought into existence from nothing, the encouraging thought would come to him that this same power would work in him to deliver him from human infirmity. Therefore he was glad, and he triumphed in the work of God's hands. The knowledge of God's power which came to him through a contemplation of creation, filled him with courage, as he realized that the same power was at his disposal, and, grasping that power by faith, he gained victories through it. And this is the design of the sabbath; it is to bring man to a saving knowledge of God.

The argument, concisely stated, is this:

1. Faith in God is begotten by a knowledge of His power; to distrust Him implies ignorance of His ability to perform His promises; our faith in Him must be in proportion to our real knowledge of His power.
2. An intelligent contemplation of God's creation gives us a true conception of His power, for His eternal power and Godhead are understood by the things which He has made. Rom. 1:20.
3. It is faith that gives victory (1 John 5:4); therefore, since faith comes by learning the power of God from His word and from the things that He has made, we gain the victory or triumph through the works of His hands.

The Sabbath, therefore, which is the memorial of creation, is, if properly observed, a source of the Christian's greatest reinforcement in battle.

This is the import of Ezekiel 20:12. “Moreover, also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” That is, knowing that our sanctification is the will of God (1 Thess. 4:3; 5:23, 24), we learn, by means of the Sabbath, properly used, what the power of God is that is exerted for our sanctification. The same power that was put forth to create the worlds is put forth for the sanctification of those who yield themselves to the will of God. Surely this thought, when fully grasped, must bring joy and comfort in God to the earnest soul. In the light of this, we can appreciate the force of Isaiah 58:13, 14:

If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

That is, if the Sabbath is kept according to God's plan, as a memorial of His creative power, as bringing to mind the Divine power that is put forth for the salvation of His people, the soul, triumphing in the work of His hands, must delight itself in the Lord. And so the Sabbath is the grand fulcrum for the lever of faith, which lifts the soul to the heights of God's throne, to hold communion with Him.

To put the matter in few words, it may be stated thus: The eternal power and Godhead of the Lord are revealed in creation. Rom. 1:20. It is the ability to create that measures the power of God. But the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Rom. 1:16. Therefore the Gospel simply reveals to us the power which was used to bring the worlds into existence, now exerted for the salvation of men. It is the same power in each case.

In the light of this great truth, there is no room for the controversy about redemption being greater than creation, because redemption is creation. See 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24.

(((2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. ))))

The power of redemption is the power of creation; the power of God unto salvation is the power which can take human nothingness and make of it that which shall be throughout eternal ages to the praise of the glory of the grace of God. “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” 1 Peter 4:19.'

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My Thoughts-

People like to imagine that the God of the Old Testament was left behind when Jesus of the New Testament did away with all the old laws and standards, the strictness and severity, the punishment and accountability. People will hold Jesus up in their lives as if He is a liberator from God. When people FAIL to realize that it was Jesus with God at Creation and Mount Sinai who brought all these things into being, they limit Jesus' power.  Divorcing Jesus from God is IMPOSSIBLE, but people do it all the time as they point to the sermon on the mount and smile, while stomping on the ten moral laws with vicious scowls.  The same mind that brought into being those ten moral laws was in Christ as He spoke the sermon on the mount.  They came from the same being!  To believe that Christ could do wrong in giving His law so that He'd need to destroy that law, is to lose the truth!

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Does this sound as if Jesus was against the law, the commandments, the written commandments?

Jesus told the man the man keeping the commandments that he lacked one thing… he needed to sell all that he had, give it to the poor, and then follow Jesus.

Luk 18:18  And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Luk 18:20  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Luk 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Luk 18:23  And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
Luk 18:24  And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Luk 18:25  For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Luk 18:26  And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?
Luk 18:27  And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

What was Jesus telling that man who kept all the commandments?  He was telling him that keeping the commandments alone without the SELFLESS love they were created to promote would not give him eternal life. Jesus was telling that man to keep on keeping the commandments and add one thing, give up all worldly wealth and follow Him.  Jesus knew that the wealth the man had consumed him, that it was more important to him than the will of God which is for us to LOVE God and LOVE our fellow man.  That man was more interested in taking care of himself than helping others.  When self is first, God is last and God NEEDS to be first.

The Creator of the commandments is our Redeemer, the Creator of our salvation.

Truly this knowledge needs to be refreshed every Sabbath day.  As a plant needing water, we NEED to keep the Sabbath as God intended us to keep the Sabbath in order to be His.  We can starve ourselves spiritually and that will result in spiritual decay and ultimate death. Or we can feed ourselves spiritually and that will result in spiritual life and ultimate eternal life.   When I say feed ourselves I mean- bring ourselves to the fount of which we MUST, the living waters of Christ.  We must bring ourselves to the table of the Bread of Life of Christ.  The table is set, the food and drink have been prepared but we must come in and sup with Him, He will not force us to sit at His table.

By His LOVE, His GRACE, His MERCY, His FORGIVENESS, His RIGHTEOUSNESS ALWAYS! May the LORD JESUS CHRIST bless us all!

With what flesh was Christ born?

Christ and His Righteousness - E.G. Waggoner

'God Manifest in the Flesh

“And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14.”

No words could more plainly show that Christ was both God and man. Originally only Divine, He took upon Himself human nature and passed among men as only a common mortal, except at those times when His Divinity flashed through, as on the occasion of the cleansing of the temple or when His burning words of simple truth forced even His enemies to confess that “never man spake like this man.”

The humiliation which Christ voluntarily took upon Himself is best expressed by Paul to the Philippians. “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being originally in the form of God counted it not a thing to be grasped [that is, to be clung to] to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, becoming in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.” Phil. 2:5-8, Revised Version, marginal reading.

The above rendering makes this text much more plain than it is in the common version. The idea is that, although Christ was in the form of God, being “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person” (Heb. 1:3), having all the attributes of God, being the Ruler of the universe, and the One whom all Heaven delighted to honor, He did not think that any of these things were to be desired, so long as men were lost and without strength. He could not enjoy His glory while man was an outcast, without hope. So He emptied Himself, divested Himself of all His riches and His glory, and took upon Himself the nature of man, in order that He might redeem him. And so we may reconcile Christ's unity with the Father with the statement, “My Father is greater than I.”

It is impossible for us to understand how Christ could, as God, humble Himself to the death of the cross, and it is worse than useless for us to speculate about it. All we can do is to accept the facts as they are presented in the Bible. If the reader finds it difficult to harmonize some of the statements in the Bible concerning the nature of Christ, let him remember that it would be impossible to express it in terms that would enable finite minds to grasp it fully. Just as the grafting of the Gentiles into the stock of Israel is contrary to nature, so much of the Divine economy is a paradox to human understanding.

Other scriptures that we will quote bring closer to us the fact of the humanity of Christ and what it means for us. We have already read that “the Word was made flesh,” and now we will read what Paul says concerning the nature of that flesh: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4.

A little thought will be sufficient to show anybody that if Christ took upon Himself the likeness of man in order that He might redeem man, it must have been sinful man that He was made like, for it is sinful man that He came to redeem. Death could have no power over a sinless man, as Adam was in Eden, and it could not have had any power over Christ, if the Lord had not laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Moreover, the fact that Christ took upon Himself the flesh, not of a sinless being, but of a sinful man, that is, that the flesh which He assumed had all the weaknesses and sinful tendencies to which fallen human nature is subject, is shown by the statement that He “was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” David had all the passions of human nature. He says of himself, “Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Ps. 51:5.

The following statement in the book of Hebrews is very clear on this point:

For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. [“For verily not of angels doth He take hold, but He taketh hold of the seed of Abraham.” Revised Version.] Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted. Heb. 2:16-18

If He was made in all things like unto His brethren, then He must have suffered all the infirmities and been subject to all the temptations of His brethren. Two more texts that put this matter very forcibly will be sufficient evidence on this point. We first quote 2 Cor. 5:21:

For He [God] hath made Him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

This is much stronger than the statement that He was made “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” He was made to be sin. Here is the same mystery as that the son of God should die. The spotless Lamb of God, who knew no sin, was made to be sin. Sinless, yet not only counted as a sinner but actually taking upon Himself sinful nature. He was made to be sin in order that we might be made righteousness. So Paul says to the Galatians that “God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Gal. 4:4,5.

“In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” “For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb. 2:18; 4:15, 16.

One more point and then we can learn the entire lesson that we should learn from the fact that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” How was it that Christ could be thus “compassed with infirmity” (Heb. 5:2) and still know no sin? Some may have thought, while reading thus far, that we were depreciating the character of Jesus by bringing Him down to the level of sinful man. On the contrary, we are simply exalting the “Divine power” of our blessed Saviour, who Himself voluntarily descended to the level of sinful man in order that He might exalt man to His own spotless purity, which He retained under the most adverse circumstances. His humanity only veiled His Divine nature, by which He was inseparably connected with the invisible God and which was more than able successfully to resist the weaknesses of the flesh. There was in His whole life a struggle. The flesh, moved upon by the enemy of all righteousness, would tend to sin, yet His Divine nature never for a moment harbored an evil desire nor did His Divine power for a moment waver. Having suffered in the flesh all that men can possibly suffer, He returned to the throne of the Father as spotless as when He left the courts of glory. When He lay in the tomb, under the power of death, “it was impossible that he should be holden of it,” because he “knew no sin.”

But someone will say, “I don't see any comfort in this for me. To be sure, I have an example, but I can't follow it, for I haven't the power that Christ had. He was God even while here on earth; I am but a man.” Yes, but you may have the same power that He had if you want it. He was “compassed with infirmity,” yet He “did no sin,” because of the Divine power constantly dwelling within Him. Now listen to the inspired words of the apostle Paul and learn what it is our privilege to have:

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Eph. 3:14-19.

Who could ask for more? Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, may dwell in our hearts so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. What a wonderful promise! He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmity.” That is, having suffered all that sinful flesh is heir to, He knows all about it and so closely does He identify Himself with His children that whatever presses upon them makes a like impression upon Him and He knows how much Divine power is necessary to resist it, and if we but sincerely desire to deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts,” He is able and anxious to give to us strength “exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think.” All the power which Christ had dwelling in Him by nature, we may have dwelling in us by grace, for He freely bestows it upon us.

Then let the weary, feeble, sin-oppressed souls take courage. Let them “come boldly unto the throne of grace,” where they are sure to find grace to help in time of need, because that need is felt by our Saviour in the very time of need. He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmity.” If it were simply that He suffered eighteen hundred years ago, we might fear that He had forgotten some of the infirmity, but no, the very temptation that presses you touches Him. His wounds are ever fresh, and He ever lives to make intercession for you.

What wonderful possibilities there are for the Christian! To what heights of holiness he may attain! No matter how much Satan may war against him, assaulting him where the flesh is weakest, he may abide under the shadow of the Almighty and be filled with the fullness of God's strength. The One stronger than Satan may dwell in his heart continually and so, looking at Satan's assaults as from a strong fortress, he may say, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.”

*******

My thoughts-

Mat_4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Mar_1:13  And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

Luk_4:2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

Tell me, if our Savior wasn't able to succumb to temptation, would the devil even try to tempt Him? What would the point have been?  If Christ had some special power that is beyond our ability to also wield, would it even matter if He came at all? Seriously.  How could our Savior possibly save us sinners if He didn't also risk sinning Himself?

Don't you imagine that Satan would have been the first one objecting if Jesus were completely beyond His ability to tempt? Satan, the ultimate in deception would not stand for a Savior unable to be tempted. Look what he did about Job. He told God that if He removed His shielding hand from around Job then Job would curse God, He would sin easily enough.  And Job was just an example of a man, not the Savior come to lay claim to the right to save ALL who believe in Him.  You have to comprehend that Satan would have disputed with God mightily if Jesus was just going to dress Himself up in human flesh to put on a show for people and angels. Jesus had to be able to be tempted of the greatest of all temptations. Jesus had to be able to comprehend the tempting a fallen sinning human being could endure, because it was that fallen sinning human being He was going to save.  Jesus was NOT placed in an earthly Garden of Eden, the angels were not asked to move aside to let Jesus in that Garden where the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil existed. Jesus wasn't given the Garden life clothed in the light of God's righteousness, not even aware of His own nakedness.  That life was gone.  No human being would ever again experience what Adam and Eve experienced, not even Christ and why would Christ go back to that point, who could He save by proving that He could resist that temptation? Couldn't we ALL say we deserve to have the same experience as Adam and Eve, if that were the case? Put in the exact same situation is it guaranteed that any of us would have fallen to temptation?  The ONLY way Christ could save fallen mankind was outside of the Garden experience because that is where we dwell.

Some say that we are born condemned, in fact whole churches, whole denominations believe in this.  They believe that an infant who dies is condemned to death as a sinner unless of course they step in and do something such as infant baptism which is found NO WHERE in our Bibles.

Isa 11:6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

We know for a fact that this projected scenario will NOT take place until we live in a whole new world, the world after Christ returns and after we dwell with Him in heaven for a thousand years. The new earth. In the new earth a sucking child (infant) will play on the hole of the asp a very deadly snake.  This sucking child, this infant is saved, and this was stated long before any sort of infant baptismal rite was initiated.

We are born with all the tendency to sin, we are born sinners, but we are not born condemned sinners. We are condemned when we are accountable for our sins whatever age that begins for the individual.

Christ never sinned, not once.  Born with our weak, infirmed flesh He never ONCE consented to sin with His mind, not once!

Satan knew that Christ felt every temptation thrown His way. Satan knew that there existed the possibility for Christ to commit sin, to fail.

We through the sacrifice of our Savior can live in Him, live in Christ's righteousness.  He did no sin, He beat every single temptation known to mankind.

Before you start with naming all the temptations He couldn't have been tempted with because He didn't walk the earth in our day with our modern temptations, the truth is that EVERY single temptation has a commonality- they involve choosing self over God.  That commonality unites every single sin there is. No, Christ wasn't tempted with chocolate covered donuts, or a syringe full of heroin. Yet, Christ felt the temptation to choose self over God in ways we will never comprehend.

The Garden of Gethsemane  where He was sweating blood, His temptations were so great, tell me-- when was the last time you sweat blood fighting against temptation?  He was being tempted to free Himself from the crucifixion, from the pain, the humiliation, the horror, the torture, the separation from His Father that death would bring.  We who think little of sinning, of succumbing to temptation to save ourselves from the smallest of inconveniences, we can't even imagine what our Savior endured.

He was touched by our infirmities. He emptied Himself.  God with us!  The Word made flesh and dwelling among us. Dwelling among us as one of us. Honestly and truly to outside appearance He was just another man, having nothing remarkable to prove He had some special power of His own to keep Him from sinning. He looked like everyone else. He wasn't glowing with a halo. He appeared like sinful man- like you and I.

By the grace of God may we fully comprehend what our Savior has done and still does for us. We can't let ourselves make the mistake of believe Christ succeeded because He used His own special powers against sin. We can't let ourselves believe that Christ took on any other flesh than the flesh He was born through- Mary's sinful flesh, the same flesh that all her ancestors had inherited through Adam and Eve- after they sinned.  Our Savior suffered to save, Satan made sure He would suffer in every way He possibly could.  Satan would not have tempted our Savior, Satan would not have been so cruel if all our Savior did was in vain. Our Savior's sacrifice was worth more than we'll ever fully realize. Our Savior's sacrifice was accepted, wholly accepted by God the Father and by all who have a stake in the outcome between good and evil.

Please Lord, help us in all we do as we seek to know Your TRUTH, always Your TRUTH!

In Your LOVE!

Is Christ a Created Being?

Christ and His Righteousness-  E.G. Waggoner

'Is Christ a Created Being?

Before passing to some of the practical lessons that are to be learned from these truths, we must dwell for a few moments upon an opinion that is honestly held by many who would not for any consideration willingly dishonor Christ, but who, through that opinion, do actually deny His Divinity. It is the idea that Christ is a created being, who, through the good pleasure of God, was elevated to His present lofty position. No one who holds this view can possibly have any just conception of the exalted position which Christ really occupies.

The view in question is built upon a misconception of a single text, Rev. 3:14: “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” This is wrongly interpreted to mean that Christ is the first being that God created--that God's work of creation began with Him. But this view antagonizes the scripture which declares that Christ Himself created all things. To say that God began His work of creation by creating Christ is to leave Christ entirely out of the work of creation.

The word rendered “beginning” is arche, meaning, as well, “head” or “chief.” It occurs in the name of the Greek ruler, Archon, in archbishop and the word archangel. Take this last word. Christ is the archangel. See Jude 9; 1 Thess. 4:16; John 5:28, 29; Dan. 10:21.

(((Jud 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Dan 10:21  But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.))))

This does not mean that He is the first of the angels, for He is not an angel but is above them. Heb. 1:4.

(((Heb 1:4  Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. ))))

It means that He is the chief or prince of the angels, just as an archbishop is the head of the bishops. Christ is the commander of the angels. See Rev. 19:11-14.

(((Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. ))))

 He created the angels. Col. 1:16.

(((Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him))))

 And so the statement that He is the beginning or head of the creation of God means that in Him creation had its beginning; that, as He Himself says, He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Rev. 21:6; 22:13. He is the source whence all things have their origin.

Neither should we imagine that Christ is a creature, because Paul calls Him (Col. 1:15) “The First-born of every creature” for the very next verses show Him to be Creator and not a creature. “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Now if He created everything that was ever created and existed before all created things, it is evident that He Himself is not among created things. He is above all creation and not a part of it.

The Scriptures declare that Christ is “the only begotten son of God.” He is begotten, not created. As to when He was begotten, it is not for us to inquire, nor could our minds grasp it if we were told. The prophet Micah tells us all that we can know about it in these words, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2, margin. There was a time when Christ proceeded forth and came from God, from the bosom of the Father (John 8:42; 1:18), but that time was so far back in the days of eternity that to finite comprehension it is practically without beginning. ((((My thoughts- I dispute this. Christ as the I AM is ever-existent, self-existence. Without father or mother.  And yet we know that a DECREE was made that determined that God the Father would take on that role and God the Son would take on His role.  We have to be able to comprehend this. If both God the Father and God the son are the Alpha and Omega, their beginning was the same, their end the same, their existence the same.  We truly can imagine this as a reality, it's not so far fetched we cannot comprehend how it could be. Even in our own governments we make decrees that determine the position of people. A father can decree that all his wealth will be left to his last son and not the first, the decree would make it so.  A person could have no status whatsoever and then by decree they are given one. The counsel was between them BOTH. 

Zec_6:13  Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

We know that they share counsel.  We know that often when there are two equally qualified people for a position that it is merely by decree that one is given that position and the other the next.

Father and Son, this makes sense because we are adopted -- yes, WE are adopted into this family and it is a FAMILY.  Our Creator did not want to simply rule over us, but He wanted to LOVE us as a Father.  Christ was brought forth from God the Father only in the sense that Christ emptied Himself and when that happened, God filled Him.  Of His own self, Christ could do nothing. 

Joh_5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Joh_5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Joh_8:28  Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

As the only begotten of the Father, Christ took on flesh and yes, in that flesh He, like all of us, was subject to learning and He learned from God the Father. ))))  End my interjection and continuing with Waggoner--

'But the point is that Christ is a begotten Son and not a created subject. He has by inheritance a more excellent name than the angels; He is “a Son over His own house.” Heb. 1:4; 3:6. And since He is the only- begotten son of God, He is of the very substance and nature of God and possesses by birth all the attributes of God, for the Father was pleased that His Son should be the express image of His Person, the brightness of His glory, and filled with all the fullness of the Godhead. So He has “life in Himself.” He possesses immortality in His own right and can confer immortality upon others. Life inheres in Him, so that it cannot be taken from Him, but having voluntarily laid it down, He can take it again. His words are these: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” John 10:17, 18.

If anyone springs the old cavil, how Christ could be immortal and yet die, we have only to say that we do not know. We make no pretensions of fathoming infinity. We cannot understand how Christ could be God in the beginning, sharing equal glory with the Father before the world was and still be born a babe in Bethlehem. The mystery of the crucifixion and resurrection is but the mystery of the incarnation. We cannot understand how Christ could be God and still become man for our sake. We cannot understand how He could create the world from nothing, nor how He can raise the dead nor yet how it is that He works by His Spirit in our own hearts; yet we believe and know these things. It should be sufficient for us to accept as true those things which God has revealed without stumbling over things that the mind of an angel cannot fathom. So we delight in the infinite power and glory which the Scriptures declare belong to Christ, without worrying our finite minds in a vain attempt to explain the infinite.

Finally, we know the Divine unity of the Father and the Son from the fact that both have the same Spirit. Paul, after saying that they that are in the flesh cannot please God, continues: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Rom. 8:9. Here we find that the Holy Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. Christ “is in the bosom of the Father” being by nature of the very substance of God and having life in Himself. He is properly called Jehovah, the self-existent One and is thus styled in Jer. 23:56, where it is said that the righteous Branch, who shall execute judgment and justice in the earth, shall be known by the name of Jehovah-tsidekenu--THE LORD, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Let no one, therefore, who honors Christ at all, give Him less honor than He gives the Father, for this would be to dishonor the Father by just so much, but let all, with the angels in heaven, worship the Son, having no fear that they are worshiping and serving the creature instead of the Creator.

And now, while the matter of Christ's Divinity is fresh in our minds, let us pause to consider the wonderful story of His humiliation.'

More tomorrow by the grace of God.

Truly Christ is God and deserving of all our glory, all our honor, all our praise, the UNCREATED ONE, ever existent.

Please Lord, help us to comprehend what we need to know so that we may never be deceived by the craftiest devices that Satan will use upon mankind to lead them to destruction. Let us know the truth, YOUR truth. Let us live the truth all through You and Your righteousness, by Your grace and mercy, in Your love!

Amen!

Christ as Creator

Christ and His Righteousness-  E.G. Waggoner

'The fact of the Divinity of Christ will also appear very distinctly as we proceed to consider:

Christ As Creator

Immediately following the oft-quoted text which says that Christ, the Word, is God, we read that “all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3. Comment cannot make this statement any clearer than it is, therefore we pass to the words of Heb. 1:1-4, “God...hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

Still more emphatic than this are the words of the apostle Paul to the Colossians. Speaking of Christ as the One through whom we have redemption, he describes Him as the One “who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature; for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Col. 1:15-17.

This wonderful text should be carefully studied and often contemplated. It leaves not a thing in the universe that Christ did not create. He made everything in heaven and everything on earth. He made everything that can be seen and everything that cannot be seen--the thrones and dominions and the principalities and the powers in heaven, all depend upon Him for existence. And as He is before all things and their Creator, so by him do all things consist or hold together. This is equivalent to what is said in Heb. 1:3, that He upholds all things by the word of His power. It was by a word that the heavens were made, and that same word holds them in their place and preserves them from destruction.

We cannot possibly omit in this connection Isa. 40:25, 26: “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” Or, as the Jewish translation more forcibly renders it, “from him, who is great in might, and strong in power, not one escapeth.” That Christ is the Holy One who thus calls the host of heaven by name and holds them in their place is evident from other portions of the same chapter. He is the One before whom it was said, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” He is the One who comes with a strong hand, having His reward with Him; the One who, like a shepherd, feeds His flock, carrying the lambs in His bosom.

One more statement concerning Christ as Creator must suffice. It is the testimony of the Father Himself. In the first chapter of Hebrews, we read that God has spoken to us by His Son; that He said of Him, “Let all the angels of God worship him” that of the angels He saith, “Who maketh his angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire,” but that He says to the Son, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom.” And God says further, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands.” Heb. 1:8-10. Here we find the Father addressing the Son as God, and saying to Him, Thou hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. When the Father Himself gives this honor to the Son, what is man, that he should withhold it? With this we may well leave the direct testimony concerning the Divinity of Christ and the fact that He is the Creator of all things.

A word of caution may be necessary here. Let no one imagine that we would exalt Christ at the expense of the Father or would ignore the Father. That cannot be, for their interests are one. We honor the Father in honoring the Son. We are mindful of Paul's words, that “to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Cor. 8:6); just as we have already quoted, that it was by Him that God made the worlds. All things proceed ultimately from God, the Father; even Christ Himself proceeded and came forth from the Father, but it has pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, and that He should be the direct, immediate Agent in every act of creation. Our object in this investigation is to set forth Christ's rightful position of equality with the Father, in order that His power to redeem may be the better appreciated.'

My Thoughts-

Again, this is truth! All truth!

God with God, God decreed to be the Son, henceforth God the Father, God the Son. The Son in the flesh upon His incarnation. The Son the creator God having not taken on flesh yet, but decreed to be the only begotten Son of the Father.  As Melchizedek having no father, no mother. From everlasting to everlasting. Self-existent, ever existent.  We can comprehend this only by the grace of our LORD through the Holy Spirit.  Does it matter if we comprehend it? It does.

There will be those who will confuse things, those who will so work things that they make Christ inferior to God by stripping away His self existence, His ever existence. When you strip away this most important truth you lose just that...the truth. When you lose the truth you are building upon a false foundation. If you build upon a false foundation then all things you hold to as truth, are tainted by the lie.  We must believe in ALL truth and only the truth!

Please Lord, help us to continue to learn more and more of ONLY Your truth! Open our hearts and minds to only truth and no lies!  Guide us, Lord, protect us, love us, live in us!

All by Your grace!

Forgive us, Lord, save us!

Is Christ God?

Christ and His Righteousness-  E.G. Waggoner

'IS CHRIST GOD?

In many places in the Bible Christ is called God. The Psalmist says: "The mighty God, even the Lord [Jehovah], hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is judge Himself." Ps. 50:1-6.

That this passage has reference to Christ may be known (1) by the fact already learned, that all judgment is committed to the Son; and (2) by the fact that it is at the second coming of Christ that He sends His angels to gather together His elect from the four winds. Matt. 24:31. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence." No; for when the Lord Himself descends from heaven, it will be "with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." 1 Thess. 4:16. This shout will be the voice of the Son of God, which will be heard by all that are in their graves, and which will cause them to come forth. John 5:28, 29. With the living righteous they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, ever more to be with Him; and this will constitute "our gathering together unto Him." 2 Thess.2:1. Compare Ps. 50:5; Matt. 24:31, and 1 Thess. 4:16.

(((2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him

Psa 50:5  Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first))))

"A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him;" for when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, it will be "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:8. So we know that Ps. 50:1-6 is a vivid description of the second coming of Christ for the salvation of His people. When He comes it will be as "the mighty God." Compare Habakkuk 3.

This is one of His rightful titles. Long before Christ's first advent, the prophet Isaiah spoke these words of comfort to Israel: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Isa. 9:6. These are not simply the words of Isaiah; they are the words of the Spirit of God. God has, in direct address to the Son, called Him by the same title. In Ps. 45:6 we read these words: "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Thy kingdom is a right scepter." The casual reader might take this to be simply the Psalmist's ascription of praise to God; but when we turn to the New Testament, we find that it is much more. We find that God the Father is the speaker, and that He is addressing the Son, calling Him God. See Heb. 1:1-8.

(((Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Heb 1:4  Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Heb 1:5  For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Heb 1:6  And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Heb 1:7  And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

Heb 1:8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.))))

This name was not given to Christ in consequence of some great achievement, but it is His by right of inheritance. Speaking of the power and greatness of Christ, the writer to the Hebrews says that He is made so much better than the angels, because "He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." Heb. 1:4. A son always rightfully takes the name of the father; and Christ, as "the only begotten Son of God," has rightfully the same name. A son, also, is, to a greater or less degree, a reproduction of the father; he has, to some extent, the features and personal characteristics of his father; not perfectly, because there is no perfect reproduction among mankind. But there is no imperfection in God, or in any of His works; and so Christ is the "express image" of the Father's person. Heb. 1:3. As the Son of the self-existent God, He has by nature all the attributes of Deity.

It is true that there are many sons of God; but Christ is the "only begotten Son of God," and therefore the Son of God in a sense in which no other being ever was or ever can be. The angels are sons of God, as was Adam (Job 38:7; Luke 3:38), by creation; Christians are the sons of God by adoption (Rom. 8:14, 15); but Christ is the Son of God by birth. The writer to the Hebrews further shows that the position of the Son of God is not one to which Christ has been elevated, but that it is one which He has by right. He says that Moses was faithful in all the house of God, as a servant, "but Christ as a Son over His own house." Heb. 3:6. And he also states that Christ is the Builder of the house. Verse 3. It is He that builds the temple of the Lord, and bears the glory. Zech. 6:12, 13. Christ Himself taught in the most emphatic manner that He is God. When the young man came and asked, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" Jesus, before replying to the direct question, said, "Why callest thou Me good? there is none good but One, that is, God." Mark 10:17, 18. What did Jesus mean by these words? Did He mean to disclaim the epithet as applied to Himself? Did He mean to intimate that He was not absolutely good? Was it a modest depreciation of Himself?—By no means; for Christ was absolutely good. To the Jews, who were continually watching to detect in Him some failing of which they might accuse Him, He boldly said, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" John 8:46. In the whole Jewish nation not a man could be found who had ever seen Him do a thing or heard Him utter a word that had even the semblance of evil; and those who were determined to condemn Him could do it only by

hiring false witnesses against Him. Peter says that He "did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 1 Peter 2:22. Paul says that He "knew no sin." 2 Cor. 5:21. The Psalmist says, "He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." Ps. 92:15. And John says, "Ye know that He was

manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin." 1 John 3:5.

Christ cannot deny Himself, therefore He could not say that He was not good. He is and was absolutely good, the perfection of goodness. And since there is none good but God, and Christ is good, it follows that Christ is God, and that this is what He meant to teach the young man.

It was this that He taught the disciples. When Philip said to Jesus, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," Jesus said to him: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the

Father?" John 14:8, 9. This is as emphatic as when He said, "I and My Father are one." John 10:30.

So truly was Christ God, even when here among men, that when asked to exhibit the Father He could say, Behold Me. And this brings to mind the statement that when the Father brought

the First-begotten into the world, He said, "And let all the angels of God worship Him." Heb. 1:6. It was not simply when Christ was sharing the glory of the Father before the world was that He was entitled to homage, but when He came a Babe in Bethlehem, even then all the angels of God were commanded to adore Him. The Jews did not misunderstand Christ's teaching concerning Himself. When He declared that He was one with the Father, the Jews took up stones to stone Him; and when He asked them for which of His good works they sought to stone Him, they  replied: "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God." John 10:33. If He had been what they regarded Him, a mere man, His words would indeed have been blasphemy; but He was God.

The object of Christ in coming to earth was to reveal God to men, so that they might come to Him. Thus the apostle Paul says that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor. 5:19); and in John we read that the Word, which was God, was "made flesh." John 1:1,14.

In the same connection it is stated, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (or made Him known). John 1:18.

Note the expression, "the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." He has His abode there, and He is there as a part of the Godhead, as surely when on earth as when in heaven. The use of the present tense implies continued existence. It presents the same idea that is contained in the statement of Jesus to the Jews (John 8:58), "Before Abraham was, I am." And this again shows His identity with the One who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, who declared His name to be "I AM THAT I AM."

And, finally, we have the inspired words of the apostle Paul concerning Jesus Christ, that "it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." Col. 1:19. Christ And His Righteousness. What this fullness is, which dwells in Christ, we learn from the next chapter, where we are told that "in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Col. 2:9. This is most absolute and unequivocal testimony to the fact that Christ possesses by nature all the attributes of Divinity. The fact of the Divinity of Christ will also appear very distinctly as we proceed to consider Christ and His Righteousness.

*******

My thoughts-

Christ, the only begotten of the Father.

Read this--

Gen 22:13  And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Gen 22:14  And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Gen 22:15  And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

Gen 22:16  And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

Gen 22:17  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Gen 22:18  And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Now please re-read verse 16 and note the ending.

God speaking to Abraham-  '...and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son.'

Didn't Abraham have another son? Ishmael?

Gen 16:15  And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.

Did Abraham claim Ishmael, recognizing him as his son?

Gen_17:18  And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before You!

He did. Abraham knew that Ishmael was his son, his first born to Hagar.

What made God say that Isaac was Abraham's only son when the facts clearly reveal Abraham had another son?

Isaac was a very special birth, wasn't he? He wasn't born naturally. What made His birth different? God's supernatural intervention was needed to make Isaac's birth possible. In fact, it was physically impossible for Sarah to conceive a child. Every woman who has ever gone through menopause and is years and years passed it, knows they will not get pregnant no matter how hard they try with their partner, it is no longer physically possible. Nowadays women might seek medical intervention but unless there is intervention there is no way a woman will bear a child many years after she's ceased to be fertile.  God intervened with Sarah. God restored to Sarah the ability to reproduce for this one very special birth- Isaac. He was UNIQUELY begotten.  And because he was THE child of God's promise, He was the ONLY child uniquely begotten, the child of God's promise.

Christ was UNIQUELY begotten.  A child by decree. A child born of the Holy Spirit. This is why Christ could be the first raise from the dead. He was uniquely raised.  He was the only being raised from the dead that never deserved death at all.

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood

Uniquely begotten. He was begotten uniquely, his birth was unique.

God who took on flesh.

God who dwelt among us.

Mat 1:20  But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Mat 1:21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Mat 1:22  Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

Mat 1:23  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

God with us.

God - ever existent God.

We mustn't forget Melchizedek.

Gen 14:18  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Heb_6:20  where Jesus entered as forerunner for us, having become a High Priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

The order of Melchizedek- God called Melchizedek to the High Priest position.  This was long before the ceremonial laws were passed down to Moses and the Levitical priesthood was established.  God called. And Jesus is uniquely called- uniquely born, uniquely dies, uniquely resurrected, uniquely made a High Priest. 

Heb 7:1  For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

Heb 7:2  To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

Heb 7:3  Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Heb 7:4  Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

We cannot deny the uniqueness of Melchisedec.

We cannot deny the uniqueness of our Savior.

Jesus - God with us.  To be God with us, He must be God.

To be accused of blasphemy and WRONGLY accused for Jesus was not guilty in anything, He must truly be God.

Ever existent.

The I AM.

Joh 8:58  Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Exo 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

I AM   --  self-existent

That I AM  -- ever- existent

God with us.

God with God.

God decreed a Son.

A Son was born uniquely as God became flesh.

God with us.

Only God could save us, only that ultimate of sacrifices could truly end sin once and for all- nothing else, nothing else could ever have been worthy.

A Creator - God with God in the Creation of all things.

A Creator  sacrificing Himself in order to save His creatures.

God with us.

Yes, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior was/is - God.

God the Son.

Blessed be the name of our Lord God always!

All by His mercy and grace, His love!

May we study more tomorrow growing ever closer to HIM and He to us!  All in His righteousness, His LOVE. 

Christ and His Righteousness (Pt. 2)

Studying from the book-  Christ and His Righteousness   by  E.J. Waggoner

Christ and His Righteousness  (Pt. 2)

Chapter 1-

'How Shall We Consider Christ?

But how should we consider Christ? Just as He has revealed Himself to the world, according to the witness which He bore concerning Himself. In that marvelous discourse recorded in the fifth chapter of John, Jesus said, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him.” Verses 21-23.

To Christ is committed the highest prerogative, that of judging. He must receive the same honor that is due to God and for the reason that He is God. The beloved disciple bears this witness, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. That this Divine Word is none other than Jesus Christ is shown by verse 14: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”

The Word was “in the beginning.” The mind of man cannot grasp the ages that are spanned in this phrase. It is not given to men to know when or how the Son was begotten; but we know that he was the Divine Word, not simply before He came to this earth to die, but even before the world was created. Just before His crucifixion He prayed, “And now, O Father, glorify thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” John 17:5. And more than seven hundred years before His first advent, His coming was thus foretold by the word of inspiration: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2, margin. We know that Christ “proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8:42), but it was so far back in the ages of eternity as to be far beyond the grasp of the mind of man.'

My thoughts-

Further and deeper, very prayerful study has revealed that this isn't quite so.  What I mean by that is, Christ is from everlasting to everlasting. Christ was in beginning. Christ is the Alpha and Omega. The Almighty Father was in beginning. The Almighty Father is from everlasting to everlasting. The Almighty Father is the Alpha and Omega. These are Biblical FACTS.

Rev_21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY   (GOD THE FATHER)

AND

The LAMB  (GOD THE SON)

Rev_1:8  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.  

GOD THE FATHER.

Rev 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

GOD THE SON.

They are BOTH from everlasting, they are both Alpha and Omega, they are both the Beginning and the End, they are both the First and the Last.

How can this be if one is the Father and one is the Son?

This is how… a DECREE was made.

Psa 2:7  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

This verse is clarified in John and Hebrews-  (the only BEGOTTEN)

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only BEGOTTEN of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Joh 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only BEGOTTEN Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Heb 1:5  For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I BEGOTTEN thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
Heb 1:6  And again, when he bringeth in the firstBEGOTTEN into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Heb 5:5  So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I BEGOTTEN thee.
Heb 5:6  As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

A decree- by decree.

Definition of 'decree'-

noun
noun: decree; plural noun: decrees
    1. 1.
an official order issued by a legal authority.
        ○ the issuing of a decree.
"the king ruled by decree"
        ○ a judgment or decision of certain law courts.
verb
verb: decree; 3rd person present: decrees; past tense: decreed; past participle: decreed; gerund or present participle: decreeing
    1. 1.
order (something) by decree.
"the government decreed a ban on any contact with the guerrillas"
   

Pasted from


Can you give an order or make a decree to someone that doesn't exist?

No.

We've read this before-- 
Zec 6:12  And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
Zec 6:13  Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

The counsel of peace shall be BETWEEN THEM BOTH.

Here we have two beings from everlasting to everlasting, and the COUNSEL that is between them both could very well have been the decision they needed to make before they undertook the creation of human beings.  Just imagine for a moment of you will - two business men deciding to undertake some amazing adventure together. They aren't going to start before they have a plan, before they've thought everything out. Their plan is going to be thorough and every contingency will be thought of before it's needed.  God the Father and God the Son, both knew that sin could enter their perfect world and if it did what needed to be done. They made a plan. The only thing that could atone for any sin corruption would be for one of them to take on flesh, and sacrifice themselves to save their Creations.  The decision was made, the decree would be given, and was given. The Word took on Flesh. The Only Begotten was in fact Begotten.

Heb 1:5  For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I BEGOTTEN thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Do you normally need to make a decree that your son in your son? We know the Word was in beginning with God when the worlds were made.  We know the Word took on flesh and BECAME the ONLY BEGOTTEN of the Father.  When this plan was enacted the roles were defined. A Father God and a Son God.  One who would give power to the One who would give up His power.  Forever now the Father God and the Son God, the Father God and the Savior who showed us the Father.

Our Bibles tell us  the TRUTH.

Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

It was the power of God that brought forth Christ through the Holy Spirit. When God the Son gave up His power to become flesh, He had NO POWER to bring Himself forth as the Son. He emptied Himself.  As One who is emptied of His power He could not create Himself He had to be begotten of the Father, He had to be sent by the Father, He had to proceed forth from the Father.

Php 2:5  Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6  who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God,
Php 2:7  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men
(RV)

The miracle of Christ made Flesh is just that, a miracle. We can never know all of the mystery, but we must by faith believe in our Creator, our Redeemer.

More tomorrow by the grace of our GOD, our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.

All in HIS LOVE!